Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Sitting on the flying shuttle, Shiller and Wanda began discussing the issue. Shiller had already decided to face reality. His online popularity remained high, because the everyday lives of superheroes that Ultron had filmed, akin to the third season of a documentary series, still featured him in a significant role. His popularity was not waning but increasing.

Wanda still harbored a desire to escape; she felt that as long as she stayed off the internet, she wouldn't be affected by it. But the thought of today's incident being posted online by that waiter and manager, not only would they attack her, they would surely attack Jarvis and her children as well.

When it came to her family, Wanda couldn't bear it, and Shiller's assessment of the mutant situation eliminated the last of Wanda's wishful thinking.

"Mutants are not just colonizing the Andromeda Galaxy for yourselves; you are the vanguard of the human race in exploring interstellar space," he pointed out. "You've put in so much effort, and countless compatriots have sweated and bled for this, yet almost no one knows about these undertakings."

"Just look at this viral invasion—you can't cope with the malevolence in the cosmos by yourselves and still need Earth's support. You need more ordinary human experts who are friendly to your cause."

Wanda nodded in agreement. She was, of course, aware of this. Mutants had many weaknesses, but their greatest vulnerability was their subpar theoretical understanding, or perhaps their practical prowess was so strong that theory couldn't keep pace.

For example, with this virus, Magneto could wipe out these twenty or so planets in an instant, but he couldn't do that because he needed to figure out what had happened.

If they didn't bring the behind-the-scenes manipulator to light, it was twenty-something planets this time, next time it might be two hundred. This time animals and plants were infected; next time it could be mutants themselves. Always being reactive was no way to foster hope.

But engaging in scientific research really wasn't for everyone. Magneto could observe activities at an atomic level on a whim; he was even a physicist himself, but he was perplexed when it came to genetics.

Mutants' current development model was essentially just dragging their feet, relying pretty much on Professor X and Magneto to keep their rickety cart moving forward. The new generation of mutants could only handle very basic matters; there wasn't one among them who could carry the flag. If those two had to deal with scientific research as well, it would either kill them with distress or exhaust them to death.

Therefore, the best model was for ordinary human experts to handle theory while mutants took care of execution, because the exploration of the cosmos was not just a concern for mutants but a plan for the entire human race, and ordinary human scientists bore responsibility for this as well.

But having responsibility was one thing; without subjective initiative, they were merely completing their jobs. Moreover, faced with a few who harbored a poor view of mutants, they could simply drag their feet, claiming a heavy workload—who could do anything about that?

That's why Shiller stressed the importance of having human experts who were well-disposed and favorable toward mutants; only then would they take the initiative to care about the mutants' plight, maximizing their subjective initiative, providing genuine theoretical support.

However, such experts were scarce, if not as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns, and nearly all of them were concentrated in China.

Speaking of which, China's mutants had not participated in developing the Andromeda Galaxy because they hadn't finished their own infrastructure. The Sky Railway in the Himalayan region had just opened this year. It looked like they were going to build the South Sea loop this year as well, having already undertaken the Southeast Asian Sky Railway project, keeping busy to the point of having no time to care about Outer Space.

But there was another important reason: Chinese mutants and Magneto did not see eye to eye; there was a fundamental divergence in their direction for the exploration of Outer Space, and they had not found a way to bridge this gap yet.

Magneto's approach was to secure a foothold in the Andromeda Galaxy and then start seizing control, which was really the same old maritime civilization approach.

Although he often denounced others as pirates, this approach was undeniably fast; neighbors store grain, I store guns, and then the neighbors become my granary. That's how Westerners accomplished their capital accumulation.

Chinese mutants believed that planting a flag in the Andromeda Galaxy and expecting to become a dominant power in the cosmos overnight was no different from delusions of swift victory. Even if they were to be the vanguard of space exploration, it should start bit by bit from the Solar System.

Mercury was already Earth's largest energy base, but there were still Mars and Venus. Especially Mars, which was a highly Earth-like planet.

Starting with Mars, step by step acclimatizing to the cosmic environment, building the first colony, starting from scratch to develop technology points, creating space bases, space agriculture, and spacecraft suitable for mutants, and then gradually exploring neighboring star systems to find suitable planets for the next base—that was the correct development path, which they were planning to do.

The advantage of this approach was its stability; starting with the Nine Major Kingdoms, they were unlikely to encounter any serious external adversaries. By the time they had advanced the technology tree sufficiently, they would not be caught spinning like headless flies when confronted with issues.

However, the downside was the slowness; without a dozen or so Five-Year Plans, there wouldn't be much to see in terms of results.

Regarding Magneto and his group, Wanda knew all too well that mutants had indeed faced many crises during the exploration and development of the Andromeda Galaxy. These might have been mere nuisances to Magneto—owing only to his immense strength—but they would have spelled a crisis of genocide for ordinary humans.

Solar flares, planetary collisions were trivial matters; traveling through black holes, neutron star explosions were just the appetizer. The chain collisions of advanced civilization spacecraft and military frictions of the Three Great Empires might barely qualify as the main course.

Due to the immense distance between the two star systems and the lack of network connection, the average person on Earth had no idea about these events. They only knew that the mutants were keeping busy in the Andromeda Galaxy and, frankly, most felt the dangerous mutants were better off far away, clueless about the specifics.

In reality, what mutants had achieved was quite impressive. Magneto had single-handedly withstood pressure from all sides, firmly establishing a foothold in the Andromeda Galaxy. Not only did he deter others, overestimating the human race's combat capabilities to prevent any aggression, he also held his own in diplomacy. He fully showcased the personal charm of a human leader, even winning a following among civilizations under the rule of the Three Great Empires.

Even though mutants had indeed made a distinguished contribution to human interstellar exploration, Earth's public opinion environment had not improved. Therefore, in this virus incident, it was only through leveraging Schiller's prestige that they found Reed, who was willing to help with research. The compensation was truly disproportionate to the payoff.

Thinking of this, Wanda understood that Schiller was suggesting she manage the mutants' network image. At the very least, she needed to let ordinary people know what the mutants had done.

This wasn't just about making money, but more importantly about vindicating mutants. By doing so, they could build a reputation among those who could be useful to mutants and then form a professional team much quicker should a viral invasion like this happen again.

Wanda also thought that, had they had a professional team, the situation wouldn't have deteriorated so much. By the time the riots started, the virus wasn't that severe. If a cure had been developed then, they might have resolved the issue by now.

Wanda didn't feel much sense of belonging to the mutant community, but she was well aware that both of her children were mutants, and any future offspring would likely inherit the mutant gene. Even if just for their future, she knew she had to change the current situation.

"You have a natural advantage," Schiller said while tinkering with his phone. "Don't forget, you married the strongest electronic lifeform in the world. That means, if you want, you can almost completely control the network's public opinion."

"No, I can't ask Jarvis to... I only see him as my husband. I don't want to use him."

"I'm afraid I have to tell you, madam, that a marriage based solely on love is not long-lasting. You've now formed a family, and aside from your feelings for each other, you need to work together for your future and for your children's."

Schiller tried to put it as gently as possible. "You must both be useful to each other, and to your children. That's the only way a family structure can remain stable. If one person becomes completely useless to the family members, they become a burden. Even if they don't leave the group, they will surely live in agony."

Wanda's face showed sadness, for she finally realized—or rather she had known all along but was unwilling to admit—that the kind of family supported only by love she had fantasized about was unrealistic.

Love can't feed you, or rather, the so-called "love's fulfillment" is only the most basic form of love.

Because affection is natural, everyone has it, but the other values one can create are the result of personal effort and perseverance. Denying these achievements to emphasize natural feelings is nothing but repression.

Who doesn't know that indulging in emotions is beautiful, but breaking free from fantasy to face reality is painful? True love is when someone is willing to do that for you.

Wanda loved Jarvis and her children dearly. She knew if she continued to live in the beautiful illusion of love and a warm family, that love might not last very long.

But breaking free immediately was difficult because she had supported herself all these years on such beautiful fantasies.

Schiller did not press on. Instead, he simply verified his existing account—that he was Schiller Rodriguez—giving himself a verified celebrity account.

His original account was empty; he never posted any videos but had amassed a collection of recipes, 80% of which he had tried, with mixed reviews.

Normally, a new account would begin with a greeting video, but since they were out and Schiller only had his phone, he found it inconvenient to record a selfie video. He decided to take a photo of the meal at the next restaurant they were dining at and use it as a greeting.

They quickly arrived at the second restaurant. This restaurant had a legendary story; it became popular overnight due to a review video. But before its rise to fame, it teetered on the brink of closure.